Music Reviews

Readers of this website might look to me as an authority on classical recordings, but one thing that continuously humbles me is just how vast and rich the history of this field is. This is especially true for the middle of the 20th century, where there are untold riches of performance and sound. By now, hopefully readers here are familiar with names like Kenneth Wilkinson, Lewis Layton and Robert Fine, but learning the history of recorded classical music is to... Read More

The Surrounding Green is Fred Hersch’s first piano-trio album in seven years—a fact that surprised me when I looked it up, since, in Hersch’s 40-year recording career, nearly half of his albums up until then were trio dates, befitting of his classic-jazz style and repertoire. The six albums between 2017’s Live in Europe (with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson) and his latest (with Drew Gress and Joey Baron) have been an eclectic bunch—solos, duets, a... Read More

Of all the groups from the Detroit music scene in the early 2000s, The White Stripes were a group shrouded in enigma. Jack and Meg White played into their mythology, portraying themselves as siblings to distance their reality as ex-spouses in a child-like uniform of red, white, and black regalia. Working within strict limitations couldn’t contain the duo’s explosive sound, which embodied the brash garage rock influence from the Motor City, yet was soaked in bluesy... Read More

Charles Lloyd is still out there making vital music at 87 but consider alto saxophonist Marshall Allen! He recently turned 101. The Sun Ra Arkestra leader since 1995 founded Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizon ensemble in 2022 featuring Arkestra guitarist DMHOTEP along with an ever changing roster of guest musicians from the worlds of jazz and rock including Immanuel Wilkins, The War on Drugs' drummer Charlie Hall, "divine" saxophonist James Brandon... Read More

To peer through the lens of one of Elliott Smith’s key influences for a moment: everyone knows when an artist has made their Rubber Soul, White Album, or Let It Be. Rubber Souls are transitional — exotic, quixotic dispatches from early creative growth spurts. White Albums are post-genre, post-everything info dumps — essentially kits that dare you to build your own record. As for a band’s eventual demise, Let It Bes show the writing on the wall. And then there’s Sgt.... Read More

This riveting psychodrama in music remains one of Mahler’s most compelling and challenging creations, demanding the ultimate from performers and engineers alike. Joining the ranks of two previous Mahler outings from the Original Source (Karajan’s traversals of Symphonies 5 and 6), how does Abbado’s “Resurrection” fare?

Canadian saxophonist Cory Weeds first came to my attention as the reissue producer of a remarkable Charles Tolliver Music Inc double LP, Live at the Captain's Cabin (Reel to Real RTRLP 014) a limited to 500 edition released for last Fall's Record Store Day "Black Friday".Cohearent Audio's Kevin Gray had mastered several Reel to Real releases for Weeds (but for an "s" that could sound transactional) but until his granddaughter Amber... Read More

Definitely watch the Yacht Rock doc on HBO Max even if just the concept of the non-existent genre makes you seasick. It's a fun watch and it ties together the musicians who played in so many studio bands cobbled together to make smooth-rock. Plus Toto. The doc producer cast a wide net. Steely Dan got caught up in it not because of the music, but because Fagen and Becker recruited so many of these nimble-fingered (and voiced) studio cats to play on their... Read More

Within a musical climate dominated by disco on the charts and airwaves, Foreigner became the poster boys of ‘corporate rock’ in the mid-1970s. A varied career of session work led guitarist Mick Jones to create an entity that reflected his musical vision of commercially viable headknocking rock. The cross-nationality of the group’s American (Lou Gramm, Ed Gagliardi, Al Greenwood) and British (Mick Jones, Dennis Elliott, Ian McDonald) members cleverly lent itself to the... Read More

Nature, ecology and jazz have been getting together lately. Last year there was Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myer's Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens and this year, David Murray Quartet's Birdly Serenade and now Chris Cheek's leisurely jazz paddle down a deceptively lazy river with the scene set by a vintage, iconic Edward S. Curtis print on the jacket front and a desert trek Curtis photo on the rear. What does it... Read More

Claudio Abbado’s searing album of orchestral showpieces by the great Russian composer Serge Prokofiev gets the Original Source AAA makeover, and immediately comes into competition with two long-established audiophile classics:  Fritz Reiner’s Lieutenant Kijé on RCA Living Stereo, and Antal Dorati’s Scythian Suite on Mercury Living Presence.  How do they compare as performances and sonic spectaculars…?

Aside from American Beauty, I’d always seen the Grateful Dead as the worst American rock-and-roll had to offer. Oversaturated, meandering, and uber-merchandised. To me, they weren’t so much a band as they were a brand. It wasn’t until a recent dive into avant-psych statement Anthem of the Sun that I “got it.” Suddenly, I was able to see past the tie-dye and bleary-eyed, syrupy-sweet nostalgia. I’d finally struck gold; the feeling I’d always heard about from Dead... Read More

It’s only taken 50 years for David Murray to record an album for a major label, but here it is: Birdly Serenade, laid down with his current (and sizzling) quartet, on Impulse, which is owned by Universal Music Group—one of the “Big Three,” along with Sony and Warner, and thus about as major as they come.Murray, born and raised in Oakland, was just 20 when, in 1975, he left Pomona College for New York and made an instant splash on the downtown loft scene, the... Read More

Boston, a city rooted in rock and roll lore, has served as home base for giants like Aerosmith, The Cars, The J. Geils Band, and of course the aptly named Boston. The Freight is one of the more noteworthy groups on the city’s growing up-and-coming artists roster. The foursome formed in 2020 has an ever increasing New England following and for two consecutive years was nominated for "Rock Act of the Year" by the New England Music Awards. The group has... Read More

The joke lede was going to be "This is one double 45 UHQR no one is going to complain about having to get up and turn over 3 extra times because once it starts, listeners are not going to be able, or want to sit down!" But that opener's dead because within a few seconds of where I started (side 3's "Jammin'") sitting down and listening became mandatory! More than a few still born Bob Marley & The Wailers reissues have been... Read More

Take a deep dive into what it takes to achieve superb piano sound on record, from the way an instrument is voiced to how it is recorded.  The great Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini set down this iconic set of Chopin’s Polonaises in 1976, and with this stellar reissue Emil Berliner Studios have once more set the bar at its highest level for bringing lifelike sound into your listening room.

It’s funny. When you have a large record collection, people always want to hear the obscure, professorial selections when dropping by for an impromptu listening party. And I’m into that for sure. But there has always been a part of my brain that thinks, “Let’s just crack a beer (or several) and listen to Fair Warning!” The problem, as many of you already know, is that Van Halen always sounded way better played over a crappy car stereo or blasting out of Radio Shack... Read More

Rhino Records' new Reserve series, sold direct from the Rhino online store are cut from original master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, CA. Most are not in the sonic realm of the "High Fidelity" series but most musically surely are, including this one, which can be ordered now but drops this June 27th.They cost $31.98, which, when taking inflation into account, means these sell for... Read More